It's continuing... hope it's good... hope it's fairly priced and NO price hike this year because this line's already grossly overpriced. Hopefully if there's a borderline knock-off sub-line alongside it for significantly less, it'll drive prices down on the future collector 3.75" line a little. $8 would be nice to get to.

I wouldn't mind Hasbro updating the Vintage cardback style for future releases. I really enjoyed the "Lost Line" look, so if they could freshen up the classic Vintage design in a similar manner I wouldn't complain. Small window boxes, like the new Iron Man Assemblers, might also be interesting.

I wonder if this means the death knell for more "realistic styled" Clone Wars figures? (fingers crossed) Why bother doing a figure in a kiddie-aimed line that would probably have LESS articulation than its animated counterpart in the OTHER "kiddie-line"?

Unless of course there is soon only going to be just ONE kiddie line.

Damn, I wish I had not thought that out to its logical conclusion...

Logged

I promise you I will not entertain you in the hallway, and do not attempt to walk with me

I don't see the reasoning since the article says TVC is continuing... so why would there be instant assumption of changes galore?

I think Hasbro's going to test the waters with 6" at the very least, but it become the core collector line? At this point that's very rampant speculation on the part of collectors... I think it's going to go like this:

Glad to hear the vintage collection is continuing, whatever it is going to be called now. I'm a little confused regarding the future of the line. On one hand, that Black Series article makes it sort of sound like from now on "3 3/4 is for kids, new 6 inch is for collectors", but at the same time, they do mention that the vintage collection is continuing under this new banner as well. How many lines are there going to be now? Movie Heroes, Clone wars, Black Series, and now 6" Black Series? Or are they unifying things more? We've already seen the Yoda and Vader packaging as well, so who knows. I hope they don't spread it even more thin with simple $6 Movie Heroes stuff (and possibly CW), $10 vintage collection stuff, and $20 Black Series figures (not to mention vehicles and all that).

I like the looks of the new Black Series stuff, and don't mind it since (at least of the ones announced) we already have great 3 3/4" versions of these. I would have been more upset if it represented an end to the smaller scale line, because that is Star Wars to me. I wonder if that line will all be the simpler 5 POA type stuff, or if we'll still get the "collector style" stuff in the continuing vintage lineup.

Did anyone else read DD's quote and catch a bit disdain for collectors (who they now cater to)?

I don't think so, I think that was him more speaking to the general USA Today audience... but based on some of the things collectors have had to say about Hasbro (or even him specifically) over the past year, I would not be surprised if he is harboring some annoyance with the hard core "I want Cantina Guy #15" folks.

To Paul/Jeff's points, I agree with what Jeff was saying... I think it was that broader audience, but I wouldn't be shocked either. People have flat out been dicks lately.

Don't get me wrong, you have every right to be mad... the consumer has rights, all the time, but I think fans have been unfair to Hasbro and the Star Wars team at times. Not all the time... case packs and price points, they deserve flak on.

But I'll never get over the "Let's blame Hasbro for it all" mentality. It's way more complex than that, and always has been. But at the same time, and I know people like to say they f'd up case packs, and it's easy for us to point out what they did wrong, but when they're planning out a line and TPM3D is hyped as such a big deal, can you blame Hasbro ultimately? Short, undertain timelines, lots of shifting around, sorting things out, and then that ever-present gamble on what will be in hot demand. IMO TPM's failed, twice now, and I hope Hasbro's not going to drink the LFL/Disney kool-aid going forward and make maybe more conservative decisions.

Did anyone else read DD's quote and catch a bit disdain for collectors (who they now cater to)?

If it means OT goodness, I'm in.

I saw the "15th Cantina alien" remark as a bit of tough truth more than anything else. As time has gone on Hasbro has made a lot of definitive versions of the main characters while working through the more obscure background characters. Over time that narrows the pool of characters that might have a broader appeal, and ultimately that may hurt sales. Why? Because a kid may not really care about getting a Danz Borin figure, or whichever other cantina character you want to insert into that scenario.

I think from a sales perspective, Hasbro is still banking on the Star Wars line having mass appeal to a wide audience. And it's in the name of sales to both kids and collectors. I think what we're very likely to see is this: higher production numbers of the kids oriented line, along with greater shelf & peg space, and lower production numbers on the Black Series, but with an eye towards serving collectors.

I can't say TVC isn't aimed at kids a little bit too... That's why you get your Obi's, QGJ's, Vaders there as well. I think EVERYTHING's aimed at kids, with one line having some fan wanks stuck into it, and costed out throughout it, a bit more.

Just tossing this out there to alleviate concerns - straight from the latest PR email from Hasbro:

Quote

Yesterday, Hasbro's new line of collector-targeted Star Wars figures, Star Wars Black, was announced on USAToday.com, which will include both traditional 3.75-inch action figures and a brand-new scale, 6-inch figures.

If Black Series is for collectors and it contains traditional 3.75" figures, then it stands to reason those 3.75" figures will continue to be $10+ collector-style 3.75" figures.

Whether or not the Movie Heroes/Clone Wars lines end up in $6/5POA land remains to be seen, but there should be enough evidence now to stop the "OMG the 3.75inch collector line is dead" stuff... for now. We'll see where we are next year if 3.75" has another year like 2012.